E-waste (plugs, batteries, bulbs etc) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world. The world produces as much as 50 million tonnes of electronic and electrical waste per year, weighing more than all commercial airliners ever made, and sadly, less than 20% of e-waste is formally recycled.
To help address this growing waste stream and build a better circular economy within our own internal operations and processes, SodaStream Australia has initiated a refurbishment and recycling project which seeks to refurbish working machines returned by retailers and consumers and offer it back to the market as second-hand and recycle end-of-life sparkling water makers.
Our team of Returns Testers carefully check and assess every single returned sparkling water maker to determine its condition. If the sparkling water maker is in perfect working order, it is thoroughly cleaned and fitted with a new cylinder and carbonating bottle before being sold through an approved reseller. If the unit is beyond repair and at the end of its life, it is recycled by our local e-waste recycler (eWastec).
At eWastec, each end-of-life SodaStream Sparkling Water Maker is passed through a shredder which extracts the maximum value. Materials such as metals are separated by magnetic or spinning processes. The destructed plastic is bagged up and transported to a local company who utilises the granulated plastic to make products or materials that re-enter the local supply chain.
Since this project commenced in July 2020, 7022 sparkling water makers have been returned and tested, 28% or 2016 sparkling water makers have been refurbished. The remaining sparkling water maker were recycled at eWastec.
In addition to the above, 29,432 kilograms of end of life sparkling water makers have been recycled through our e-waste recyclers since 2020, thus reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and providing materials such as shredded plastic and metal that can be reused in the local supply chain and used to make almost anything.
To help us demonstrate our commitment to the environment as well as provide assurance, our recyclers send us a recycling certificate after each load is processed, documenting how much material we have kept out of landfill.
Laveen Dhillon is the Sustainability Manager for SodaStream Australia and has been helping them to reduce waste and create a more circular economy.
